Amid spate of violence, Afghans vote to choose new leader


  • World
  • Saturday, 05 Apr 2014

Afghan vice presidential candidate, Habiba Sarabi (C), shakes the hand of a supporter as she arrives to a campaign rally in Kabul March 17, 2014. The deeply conservative, all-male crowd at Afghanistan's Kandahar stadium stared in disbelief as the small woman in a modest black headscarf stood up and reached for the microphone. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

KABUL (Reuters) - From the rugged mountains bordering Pakistan to the windswept western plains, millions of Afghans vote on Saturday in an election for the first democratic transfer of power in the country's tumultuous history.

The Taliban, hardline Islamists bent on toppling the government, have deployed fighters countrywide to disrupt an election they brand a U.S.-backed sham. Dozens of people have been killed in a spasm of violence leading up to the vote.

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